Configure server groups
The tasks below enable you to modify settings for multiple-server StoreFront deployments. To manage a multiple-server deployment, use only one server at a time to make changes to the configuration of the server group. Ensure that the Citrix StoreFront management console is not running on any of the other servers in the deployment. Any configuration changes you make must be propagated to the other servers in the group to ensure a consistent configuration across the deployment.
You must configure servers comprising a StoreFront server group identically in terms of both StoreFront installation location and IIS website settings, such as physical path and site IDs.
Add a server to a server group
Use the Add Server task to obtain an authorization code to enable you to join a newly installed StoreFront server to your existing deployment. For more information about adding new servers to existing StoreFront deployments, see Join an existing server group. See the Scalability section of Plan your Storefront deployment to assess how many servers you need in your group.
Remove servers from a server group
Use the Remove Server task to delete servers from a multiple-server StoreFront deployment. You can remove any server in the group apart from the server on which you are running the task. Before removing a server from a multiple-server deployment, first remove the server from the load-balancing environment.
Propagate local changes to a server group
Use the Propagate Changes task to update the configuration of all the other servers in a multiple-server StoreFront deployment to match the configuration of the current server. Propagation of configuration information is initiated manually so that you retain control over when and if the servers in the group are updated with configuration changes. While running this task, you cannot make any further changes until all the servers in the group have been updated.
Important:
Any changes made on other servers in the group are discarded during propagation. If you update the configuration of a server, propagate the changes to the other servers in the group to avoid losing those changes if you later propagate changes from different server in the deployment.
The information propagated between servers in the group includes the following:
- Contents of all web.config files, which contain the StoreFront configuration.
- Contents of
C:\Program Files\Citrix\Receiver StoreFront\Receiver Clients, such asC:\Program Files\Citrix\Receiver StoreFront\Receiver Clients\Windows\CitrixWorkspaceAppWeb.exeandC:\Program Files\Citrix\Receiver StoreFront\Receiver Clients\MAC\CitrixWorkspaceAppWeb.dmg. - Contents of
C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb\Custom\contrib. - Contents of
C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb\Custom\custom folder, such as copied images and customisation.js files. - Contents of the Citrix Delivery Services certificate store.
Note:
Subscription data is synchronized with the other servers independently of the Propagate Changes mechanism. It happens automatically without the Propagate Changes task being initiated.
Change the base URL for a deployment
Use the Change Base URL task to modify the URL that is used as the root of the URLs for the stores and other StoreFront services hosted on a deployment. For multiple-server deployments, specify the load-balanced URL. You can use this task to change from HTTP to HTTPS at any time, provided that Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is configured for HTTPS.
To configure IIS for HTTPS, use the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager console on the StoreFront server to create a server certificate signed by your Microsoft Active Directory domain certification authority. Then add HTTPS binding to the default website. For more information about creating a server certificate in IIS, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/hh831637(v=ws.11). For more information about adding HTTPS binding to an IIS site, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/orphan-topics/ws.11/hh831632(v=ws.11).
Configure server bypass behavior
To improve performance when some of the servers providing resources become unavailable, StoreFront temporarily bypasses servers that fail to respond. While a server is being bypassed, StoreFront ignores that server and does not use it to access resources. Use these parameters to specify the duration of the bypass behavior:
- All failed bypass duration specifies a reduced duration in minutes that StoreFront uses instead of Bypass duration if all servers for a particular Delivery Controller are being bypassed. The default is 0 minutes.
- Bypass duration specifies the time in minutes that StoreFront bypasses an individual server after a failed attempt to contact that server. The default bypass duration is 60 minutes.
Considerations when specifying All failed bypass duration
Setting a larger All failed bypass duration reduces the impact of unavailability of a particular Delivery Controller; however, it has the negative affect that resources from this Delivery Controller are unavailable to users for the specified duration after a temporary network outage or server unavailability. Consider the use of larger All failed bypass durationvalues when many Delivery Controllers have been configured for a store, particularly for nonbusiness-critical Delivery Controllers.
Setting a smaller All failed bypass duration increases the availability of resources served by that Delivery Controller but increases the possibility of client-side timeouts if many Delivery Controllers are configured for a store and several of them become unavailable. It is worth keeping the default 0-minute value when not many farms are configured and for business-critical Delivery Controllers.
To change the bypass parameters for a store
Important: In multiple-server deployments, use only one server at a time to make changes to the configuration of the server group. Ensure that the Citrix StoreFront management console is not running on any of the other servers in the deployment. Once complete, propagate your configuration changes to the server group so the other servers in the deployment are updated.
- On the Windows Start screen or Apps screen, locate and click the Citrix StoreFront tile.
- Select the Stores node in the left pane of the Citrix StoreFront management console and click Manage Delivery Controllers in the Actions pane.
- Select a controller, click Edit, and then click Settings on the Edit Delivery Controller screen.
- On the All failed bypass duration row, click in the second column and enter a time, in minutes, for which a delivery controller is considered offline after all its servers fail to respond.
- On the Bypass duration row, click in the second column and enter a time, in minutes, for which a single server is considered offline after it fails to respond.